Total Solution for contaminated firefighting foam 

Fire Engineering Solutions has replaced over 70 tonnes of environmentally persistent foam concentrate with fluorine free foam (F3) in several different projects to the satisfaction of the Qld DEHP and has been developing engineering techniques for the various types of AFFF and containment since 2016.

FES are able to offer Clients a TOTAL SOLUTION to replace any non-persistent firefighting foam with F3 foam  by:

• Site visit and provide technical note and cost estimates to replace the foam

• Procurement new F3 Foam and deliver it to the site

• Replace non-persistent foam with F3 foam with zero impact on environment

• Customise washing solvents considering any foam chemistry and physical properties,

• Efficiently clean contaminated tanks, pipes, fittings, pumps to the satisfaction of the Qld DEHP ( < µg/L)

• Bench-top in-field testing methods

• Road Transport all contaminated substances like AFFF foam, wastewater, solvents

• Dispose PFAS contaminated materials under DEHP licensed companies

• Modify fire fighting system to achieve the same fire performance with releasing new F3 foam

• Provide final consistency report for the new foam comprises field records, chain of custodyies, test data, certifications and Lab analysis

Risks in continuing to Keep non-persistent AFFF

On July 7 2016 Queensland passed into law a requirement to contain and not discharge under any circumstances, any firefighting foam containing significant amounts of Fluorine. The legislation recognises three categories of foam concentrate: -

C8          Those containing significant amounts of PFOS and PFOA. Most of this type of foam stock was removed for service 10 or more years ago, any still in use is required to be withdrawn from service immediately.

C6          Concentrates containing Fluorine with only trace amounts of PFOS and PFOA. C6 compliant foams have only been commercially available recently, and it is unlikely that C6 foam bought before 2017 complies with these requirements, and must therefore be classified as C8.

C6 compliant concentrate is allowed to remain in service provided it is NOT released into the environment even during a fire. When the legislation was introduced a 3 year moratorium (expires July 2019) to allow for existing C6 installations to be upgraded, either by adding impervious containment or by replacement by F3 foam.

F3          Fluorine Free Foam, able to fight liquid fuelled fires without restraint under this legislation. F3 is allowed to be discharge during a fire, training or necessary maintenance activity.

  As summary, continuing to use non-persistent firefighting foam will only delay the cost of its destruction, since any discharge for any reason is required to be collected and destroyed. However, in the most situations, full containment is difficult to achieve and even  if it is possible, the collection of discharges including the foam, firewater, wastewater, runoff and clean-up the contaminated underwater or soil and disposal will be much more costly than replacing it with Fluorine Free Foam.

If you are looking to replace C8 or C6 foam, or need to know more, please do not hesitate to contact us.